Judicial Horror Story - Just in Time for Halloween

[LegalScholar]

Judge Cannon's Rap

by David Protess, Huffington Post

Outside of legal circles, it is a little known fact that judges, like criminal defendants, have "rap sheets" -- cases involving past misconduct. A judge's "priors" include everything from reversals by higher courts to biases documented in court-reported transcripts. It is useful information for lawyers on both sides to have when a case is assigned to a particular judge.

The rap sheet for the Hon. Diane Gordon Cannon, an imperious Cook County criminal court judge, is becoming the stuff of legends. As I have reported, Judge Cannon, 58, wrongfully jailed a Serbian immigrant who was freed when high-ranking judges intervened; berated and locked-up a young mother of three for using a cellphone from a washroom to check on her disabled child; harshly sentenced exonerated death row inmate Anthony Porter to a year in prison for shoplifting four sticks of deodorant; and, repeatedly delayed a hearing for an innocent man until he died alone in his prison cell.

If this were not troubling enough, wait until you hear what Judge Cannon did in the case of Chad Johnson...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-protess/judge-cannon-redux_b_4125455.html?utm_hp_ref=chicago